Former UK Vauxhall chief Nick Reilly looks set to be moved from his post as international operations chief of General Motors in order to take temporary charge of Vauxhall/Opel.
Bob Lutz, legendary 'car man' and all-round motor industry troubleshooter, will also take charge of Opel's supervisory board until a new full-time CEO for Vauxhall/Opel can be found. The moves follow the departure last week of GM's European chief Carl-Peter Forster.
It's been a busy few days or so at GM. First, the General backed out of selling its Vauxhall/Opel European operations to Canadian parts giant Magna. Then GM announced last Friday that it was to part company with Opel CEO Forster after he slammed GM's handling of the sale of Opel to Magna and said that Opel would be better off under the control of the Canadian company.
Despite the tensions between General Motors and Forster, each praised the other's efforts.
"The Opel brand has made tremendous progress under Carl-Peter's tenure and leadership over the past several years," said GM CEO Fritz Henderson. "We thank him for his significant accomplishments and wish him only the best in the future."
Forster said: "It's been an honour to be part of the history of Opel, and I wish all the people with the organisation only the best in what I'm certain will be a great future."
GM isn't set to officially announce Forster's replacement - either temporary or permanent - until later this week, but has said that it is starting an "immediate external search for a new CEO for Opel Europe".
In the meantime Nick Reilly - who sacrificed a year's salary to help save the Ellesmere Port plant when he was in charge at Vauxhall in the 1990s - will take charge of Vauxhall/Opel. Lutz, who 'semi-retired' back in April, now adds heading the Opel supervisory board to his role as marketing boss of GM's US brands.
And Forster? According to the Sunday Times, he's headed to JLR, and is "likely to be appointed to a senior role at Tata Motors, owner of Jaguar Land Rover, and would take charge of the group's British operations".
![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 4 3"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1 1"%3E%3C/svg%3E)